ST. CLOUD — Each time 19-year-old Tyrese Parker stepped onto the Dolby Theater stage in Hollywood in May, he stopped for a moment to take it all in. With a deep breath he looked out at the stage lights gleaming and the auditorium seats that stretched high to the balcony.

“I really wanted to remember how I felt,” he said.

Then, with the judges poised and the large FOX Networks cameras rolling, he danced.

Second time's the charm

Parker brought St. Cloud into the spotlight this year when he made it to the top 27 in the nation on the popular performance television show, “So You Think You Can Dance.”

The long-running show discovers the nation’s best dancers every year, whatever their style may be (one season winner’s genre was krump), and puts them to the test in competition.

First-round auditions draw thousands of talented dancers eager to claim a spot in the top 20 and compete on the “So You Think You Can Dance” stage in Los Angeles. In the end, one is named America's Favorite Dancer.

Parker got closer than most this year, the show’s 15th season, and significantly closer than the first time he auditioned last year.

When he sent in his initial audition video, he was a senior at Tech High School in St. Cloud.

“I didn’t think I was going to get a callback,” he said. But he did and flew to Los Angeles for the judges’ round. He ended up getting a ticket to The Academy — a grueling week of callbacks testing dancers in choreographed routines outside their comfort zone.

“First year, I got through the solo round, hip hop round and got cut at the contemporary round,” Parker said. “It was tough because contemporary is one of my strong suits, but I knew I was much younger than the others…”

Beginnings at St. Cloud School of Dance

While Parker realized he was young, his dancing career wasn’t.

“My mom likes to say I started dancing in the womb at a Spice Girls concert,” he joked. He remembers mimicking home videos of his older sister’s dance routines, and learning them on his own.

“At the end of that day, I wasn’t really upset anymore about it. Not very many people can say they made it to the top 27 of ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’”

Tyrese Parker

When his parents took notice, they brought him to the St. Cloud School of Dance in hopes they would accept him.

“I think I was probably 5,” he said. “I learned a whole production number – a tap number.” He then spent years dancing there, until finding a new stage at Summit Dance Shoppe in Plymouth. He needed the challenge then, and again when Season 15 auditions rolled around.

The show aired footage of Parker being sent home in Season 14, and watching himself leave academy week was what he needed to try again.

“It only kind of pushed me to keep training harder (so) that I would go back,” he said.

It was worth it. The second time around, Parker got to academy week and made it through all six callback rounds to become one of the top 27 final dancers.

“It was definitely a challenge,” said Parker. “Academy week is no joke.”

He made his way through callbacks, learning physically demanding routines from renowned choreographers in every discipline: hip hop from the celebrity duo Nappytabs, contemporary from Emmy-winner Travis Wall and a high-energy group number by Mandy Moore, who choreographed the 2016 blockbuster musical “La La Land.”

'It just lit a fire that I could keep going'

Working with these choreographers was enough to leave an impression on Parker.

“To learn from them and be up on stage with them is a check off my bucket list itself,” he said of working with Nappytabs. Parker still practices the combo he learned from Wall. He said it “just felt right” and wants to hold onto it.

Tyrese Parker, 19, leaps in front of the marquee for "So You Think You Can Dance" auditions.(Photo: Tyrese Parker)

“Everything that they show (on TV) is literally what happens, and that is kind of crazy,” Parker said. “Every time I watched the screen I remembered how I felt in that moment.”

Whether it was stress from inexperience going into the ballroom round or nerves because of last year’s cut after contemporary, Parker felt the pressure of the week on and off screen.

“There was a good chunk of people who would get cut every round,” he said. “You rehearse when you’re not filming. You need to make sure you’re on top of your stuff…At that point we’re such a close knit group — we’re supporting each other. We don’t want to see anybody go home, because you’re all friends now. But it’s always in the back of your head: the possibility that you could get sent home.”

But as he moved through each round of callbacks, he became more confident.

“It just lit a fire that I could keep going – making it through.”

After his final solo performance to judges (with a sprained finger) Parker made it to the top 27 dancers in the nation but was cut in the final round before the top 20 competed on the “So You Think You Can Dance” live shows.

'I’d love to go back'

Still, he felt he had left himself on the stage as best he could.

“I think that’s what helped me get through so many rounds is I was just being myself,” he said. “At the end of that day, I wasn’t really upset anymore about it. Not very many people can say they made it to the top 27 of ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’”

“What is the worst that could come out of trying? Because if anything, you might get it.”

Tyrese Parker

Parker said his show experience isn’t over yet, and he’s still diligently dancing in the meantime. On Tuesday, he had just returned from a festival in San Diego, DancerPalooza, but only gave himself one rest day for travel.

“I can’t rest for too long.” He said he needs to stretch and work his muscles as often as possible. “I’m not 15 anymore,” he said.

Parker has since kept in touch with his close friends from academy week and been trying to find a way to define his style, which he said is evolving along the lines of “contemporary-jazz fusion.” And if there’s another season next year, he’ll try again.

“I’d love to go back and improve myself and make it onto the show,” Parker said.

Though he hasn’t made it to the top 20 yet, he’s glad to have taken the leap the past two years and get where he did.

“You have to just take the opportunity,” he said. “What is the worst that could come out of trying? Because if anything, you might get it.”

Send news tips to Jordyn Brown at jnbrown@stcloudtimes.com or follow her on Twitter @thejordynbrown